Our travels have bought us into Northern Italy to Como, a town that dates back to Roman days and still has a medieval wall around it. (Not to be confused with Kokomo which the Beach Boys sang about in the film Cocktail. I did.) The main draw of the place is of course the lake. […]
Read More →You may have got the idea now that this trip is mainly about traveling on trains and eating cake (what, you haven’t? Then you are an idiot). The more I travel on trains, the more I realise that it is the future of convenient travel (well in Europe at any rate. I’m not sure I […]
Read More →Globalisation is a a subject which divides opinion. Some embrace the idea, others like to smash in McDonalds windows because of it (although I have to admit l felt like doing that after the last time I ate there). On the one hand, if you arrive in a strange land with strange custom, language and […]
Read More →Our main reason for coming back to Budapest was to do the things we ran out of time to do last time. The main one was a trip to the thermal spas. The one we opted for was the Szechenyi Baths which are in the Varosliget park. When you read reviews on various websites there […]
Read More →One of things which we had planned to do in Vienna was to either go to a concert or an opera. The one good thing about both of these art forms is that it doesn’t matter about language. You may remember from Day 9’s blog that Ingrid had put us onto a hot tip which […]
Read More →Whenever we go away on a city break we do tend to visit the odd art gallery or two. So far we have done the Van Gough museum in Amsterdam, Mucha in Prague and today the Leopold Museum, home of the works of Gustav Klimt. Well I say the home….. The Leopold is a vast […]
Read More →Before we came to Vienna I knew very little about the place. All I really knew was: 1) A classical concert on BBC2 every New Year’s Day came from here. 2) They were big into music. 3) They made nice fingers. We hadn’t even really got a guide book so I hadn’t been able to […]
Read More →Yesterday I left you with us having been on the Big Bus Tour. This morning we did the other line (lots of Palaces really) and this afternoon we decided to do the “20th Century and Films Walk” (well it was included in the price). We turned up five minutes before the tour started at the […]
Read More →The internet is a great thing. Discuss. Actually, no let’s not go there, let me rephrase that slightly. The internet has made travelling a lot easier. Not just for the booking of travel and accommodation, but also choosing where to eat and what to do. Here is a quick example from last night. We had […]
Read More →Having experienced some Czech sport, the next thing on our agenda was some Czech culture. Opera? No. Music? Nah. Black Light Theatre? Oh yes Black Light Theatre uses a black back cloth and people dressed as ninjas (i.e. all in black) to move objects around. I seem to remember that it was used in a […]
Read More →The only problem with interailing is that with it effectively being one city break after another, it can be fairly full on. Today we decided to take a rest from the usual tromping around the city and chill in the park. I thought today would be an ideal opportunity to give my new Panama hat […]
Read More →This holiday we have mainly been staying in appartments. We have been using various web sites to contact the owners. The owner of the Prague apartment has been very vocal and has e-mailed me frequently about arrangments. She gave me “clear” instructions on how to get to the appartment. So we arrived bright and early […]
Read More →I know I left you last night saying I was going to tell you all about our experience finding our flat here in Prague, well I’ve changed my mind and I want to share my thoughts on my night at the Ice Hockey. (Stop complaining, I’m on my holiday, I can do whatever I like!). […]
Read More →Last night we had our first experience of an overnight sleeper train. We were travelling from Amsterdam to Prague on the City Night Line Service. We had booked a cabin for 2 with an ensuite. I had always had a hankering to go on a sleeper since as a child I saw Roger Moore […]
Read More →There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing Katie Melua once sang (well actually she sang it more than once, Radio 2 never stopped playing that flaming record), There are 1 million in Holland, The majority appear to be in Amsterdam. I love the fact that the Dutch have trams, buses, cars and cycle paths. But […]
Read More →This morning we began our European adventure early. 3:15 to be exact. Last night when Karen checked that the taxi was ok they told her that she had booked it for 3:15. We put them back to 3:30 and we were still in John Lennon airport by 4:05. I think we actually were there before […]
Read More →Just over 48 hours until the current Mrs Fenner and myself head off on our next big adventure. This time we are interrailing around Europe. Now most people think that interrailing is for students racing around Europe, sleeping in train stations and trying to get as many countries under their belt before their pass runs […]
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Some of you my have noticed on Facebook that last night we had a bit of an incident with our kitchen ceiling. To save repeating myself (joke there for mum and dad) here is an account of the whole sorry experience. Last night we were due to go to a party up the road for a friend’s […]
Read More →Today was our last full day and we headed up to Varosliget and heroes square. The weather was gorgeous and sunny and the 3 layers, hat and scarf suddenly seemed a mistake The square of statues is impressive, but the ice rink behind it is even more impressive. They dam the lake and freeze […]
Read More →Last night I left you with us in search of hot food. Well, we ventured out via the Christmas markets. I personally think that these stalls are all selling the same tat, but not according to Sue and Karen and they all had to be approached in a methodical military manner to make sure that […]
Read More →Today we began the sight seeing in earnest. We have walked miles looking at beautiful buildings, views and statues. We ended up at St Stephens Basilica, an amazing church which dominates the Budapest sky line. I was sent as the recce party to see if we needed to pay. It was a donation, but it […]
Read More →Another month, another holiday. Yes this time myself and Karen and our friends Daz and Sue are in Budapest. That’s in Hungary. Not to be confused with Bucharest, which isn’t. We had a good journey out. Checked in and through Security in under 20 minutes and we were sat on the plane ready to take […]
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Well today was the day. My 2-week extensive training regime culminated in my race today. The day began early (a 7:15am alarm on a Sunday should be outlawed). Before I had even got out of bed I was cold, which was not a good omen. It was actually 3 degrees outside, and not the singing […]
Read More →Well today was the day. My 2-week extensive training regime culminated in my race today. The day began early (a 7:15am alarm on a Sunday should be outlawed). Before I had even got out of bed I was cold, which was not a good omen. It was actually 3 degrees outside, and not the singing group type (another […]
Read More →So I left you after my nighttime run, flashing at the Students at Edge Hill (hold on, that doesn’t sound right…read the blog, you’ll see what I mean). My next runs were in the mornings. This was an altogether different affair. It was cold but the sun was shining, I was casting shadows across the field […]
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Most of you who know me will know that at this time of year I am rather partial to a bit of facial hair Yes, Movember is looming large and I have already dug out the shaving foam, razor and moustache wax ready for Friday. As per last year, upper lip hair will be grown, gingerbread moustaches will […]
Read More →Well, if yesterday was a girlie day with jewellery shops a go go, then me and dad had our day today with trains, trams and funiculars. We had planned to go up mount Tibidabo which is the massive mountain that overlooks Barcelona. I’m not one of those people who likes going up a mountain for […]
Read More →This morning we were woken up by the circus coming to town. They weren’t outside but up stairs. We’ve heard the thundering of a herd of baby elephants above us all the time we have been in the apartment today. As Nikki said “how did they all fit in the lift?” This is a […]
Read More →I left you last night with us about to go out and have a meal. We wandered around a bit (intentionally this time) and decided on the restaurant 2 doors down. They do an exceptionally good range of set menus so we headed in. The restaurant was celebrating 30 years and was owned by a […]
Read More →One Fenner rambling is bad. Two Fenners rambling are potentially dangerous (see the California blog). Three Fenners rambling is a recipe for disaster (see the Spanish blog from earlier this year). Five, yes five Fenners rambling across Europe constitutes a potential international incident (but with all the leaders being at the G20, we seem to […]
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